IndiGo recently announced a major international expansion with six new international destinations and a whopping 174 new weekly flights. The massive expansion drive primarily focuses on destinations in Central Asia and Africa, and in true IndiGo fashion, most of the new routes currently do not have any nonstop flights.
Mr. Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo said,
"We are absolutely excited to embark further on our ambitious international network expansion plans, in line with our commitment to giving wings to the Indian nation. As we steadfastly execute our strategy ‘Towards New Heights and Across New Frontiers’, we are poised to establish unparalleled connections between people and places. The addition of these exciting new destinations, new direct flight routes, enhanced flight frequencies, and strategic codeshare partnerships, will help us expand our footprint across four continents with Africa and Central Asia being penetrated for the first time. With this expansion in our network, we will now be directly touching 32 international destinations (up from 26), next to our 78 domestic destinations.”
Let’s take a closer look at IndiGo’s new destinations.
Connecting Africa and Central Asia
India’s largest airline has added these flights from just two airports in the country. Mumbai CSM International Airport (BOM) will see direct flights to Nairobi, Kenya, and Jakarta, Indonesia. IndiGo is yet to confirm the equipment used, schedule, or prices for these new routes but we do know that flights will begin sometime in late July or early August and the A321neo is the likely candidate.
The country’s capital, Delhi will be connected with direct flights to destinations in Central Asia. From Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL), IndiGo will fly to Tbilisi, Georgia, and Baku, Azerbaijan in August. The month of September will see two more new routes from the national capital, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Almaty, Kazakhstan. The services to Tbilisi and Almaty will be operated thrice weekly, while flights to Baku and Tashkent will fly four times a week.
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Kenya Airways currently operates two daily nonstop frequencies on the Mumbai-Nairobi route but IndiGo does not have any competition on flights to Jakarta. Similarly, IndiGo will be the only carrier to connect Tbilisi and Baku with nonstop flights. However, it will have to compete with Uzbekistan Airways on the Delhi-Tashkent route and with Air Astana on flights between Delhi and Almaty.
Eagle-eyed readers might remember when we spoke about untapped markets in 2020, when IndiGo was adding rescue flights to repatriate citizens. After three years, the carrier is jumping on these unutilized opportunities to see if it can open a new frontier.
174 new weekly international flights
Along with the launch of all the mentioned new routes, IndiGo is also planning a host of other new services, frequencies, and destinations totaling a total of 174 new weekly international flights added between June and September 2023.
Daily flights between Delhi and Hong Kong are making a comeback in August. IndiGo suspended services on this route three years ago because of the pandemic but will soon be back thanks to rising travel demand.
As we reported less than a month ago, the airline has big plans for the Middle East as well. The low-cost carrier announced six new routes to the region beginning gradually from June 2023. In addition, the carrier also plans on adding new frequencies to the Mumbai-Dhaka route and adding international flights from tier II and tier III Indian airports like Bhubaneshwar and the newly inaugurated Manohar International Airport (GOX) in North Goa.
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